Zack Wheeler delivered his best start of the season last night against his former organization, tossing 6.0 innings and allowing one earned run on two hits for his second win of the season. He struck out four and walked four. This was his first win at home since August 15, 2014 against the Cubs.
Wheeler threw 95 pitches through six innings and if he wasn’t coming back from Tommy John surgery, he probably would have gone out for another inning. Still, he needs to continue to get his pitch count down which tonight probably had something to do with those four walks. Wheeler was asked if he thought this was his best start of the season despite those walks.
“By far,” Wheeler said. “I still would like to go at least seven [innings], but I felt more comfortable out there today.”
With all the controversy and injuries surrounding the starting rotation, this start could not have come at a better time. Wheeler looked great despite some command issues, but that’s hardly out of the ordinary. Maybe the best sign was seeing 98 mph flash on the radar gun.
“I made a little tweak in between these two starts and I was able to get more over the top of the ball and was able to command it a little bit better,” Wheeler said. “I did have four walks, but this was the best all season.”
Wheeler’s next start will probably come next Monday at Arizona. Five of their batters have faced him before and they have a combined .161 batting average against in 31 at-bats.
